Sunset Window Card

I needed a quick card to send to a friend who’s been going through a lot over the last year, so I started playing with her favorite color (magenta) and some newer stamps from Stampin’ Up:

When I picked out my focal image (“World of Dreams” from Stampin’ Up), I knew I wanted it to be a window card so that I didn’t have to sketch in the rest of the branch.  I started out by cutting the window from some Neenah Desert Storm using the Deco Labels framelits (SU).  Here is a very similar shape in the Silhouette Online Store if you don’t have these dies.  Then I ran the panel through my Big Shot again using the Basketweave embossing folder from Darice.  I wanted to emphasize the pattern a little more, so I lightly sponged white ink over the panel and set it aside to dry.
I created the sunset background with sponge daubers and Memento Luxe inks on my Neenah Desert Storm cardbase.  By just dabbing each color to overlap the next slightly, I eventually ended up with a sunset-y scheme I liked.  Once dry, I stamped the birds on top using Versafine Onyx Black ink.  It took several impressions to get a solid image because the two inks just didn’t want to cooperate, but I wised up after ruining my first cardbase and stamped with my MISTI three times to get it to finally work.  (More on MISTI soon!)
Before popping up my embossed panel over the image with foam tape, I wrapped it with a couple turns of magenta jute from American Crafts.  The sentiment (“Bosom Buddy” from Paper Smooches) was stamped in Versafine Onyx Black on a white banner cut with the Stitched Sentiment Flag die from Lil’ Inker Designs (a Silhouette file you could alter to look similar would be this one).
I hope you have a great weekend and I’ll be back next week with another Silhouette project.  I’ll also be unveiling a re-vamped blog with lots of changes…new projects, tutorials, freebies, and more…yay!